Convictions

Tuesday, 24 November 2015

Financial issues when you have unspent criminal convictions

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Unspent criminal convictions and your finance

Banks offering bank accounts may not offer you an account if you have been convicted of fraud which may extend to include "convictions under the Fraud Act 2006", fraud against financial institutions, or fraudulent benefit claims.

CIFAS

This information is often allowed to be shared because applications or claims forms will regularly include a clause that you must agree to in order to obtain an account or service. CIFAS is not used to decide whether you are able to obtain an account, convictions insurance, benefit or employment, as it is not a credit reference agency. It is used only to prevent further fraud from occurring. When an application or claim is flagged by CIFAS this is taken as an indication that the case may require investigation, it is not in itself enough to require that the application or claim is rejected out of hand.

Warning

Having a warning held on your CIFAS file will not mean that you are automatically blacklisted and members are not permitted to reject your application or discontinue a service purely because of it. They will need to take additional steps to verify your identity and make a decision based on this. If fraud is suspected, then applications will not usually be continued and service facilities or employments are likely to be reviewed. There can be a number of other reasons why a provider may refuse your application, so it is important to ask why they have decided to do so.

The amount of time a warning stays on CIFAS' database will usually depend on how long the detected fraudulent activities continue. Warnings may be extended by members in order to protect individuals from fraud, providing that they have proof that the fraud is ongoing. In accordance with new legislation, from the 1st of January 2012, instances of fraud will remain on the CIFAS database for up to six years (in line with other fraud prevention and credit reference agencies).

Insurance

If you have unspent criminal convictions it can be hard to find the home insurance you need at a reasonable price. With HomeProtect you can obtain a competitive online quote for convictions insurance, regardless of whether your convictions are spent or not. With HomeProtect you can be confident that your application for criminal convictions insurance will be assessed fairly and that you will always be treated with the respect you deserve.